SlingPlayer for Boxee Box arrives

Sling Solo and Pro-HD owners are now able to stream live and recorded content from their SlingBox to any TV that’s connected to a Boxee device. And Boxee Box Live will go on sale in the US and Canada this month.

“It’s perfect for those still waiting to cut the cord because they can shave their monthly cable bill and by not paying for the same content repeatedly,” according to Boxee. “Users can get rid of the extra cable boxes in their house, stream content from home to a dorm room for a student in college, or watch favorite shows on their PVR from anywhere in the world.”

The device gives access to local broadcast stations (such as most ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC, PBS affiliates) with no monthly fees via the Boxee Box. The Boxee Live TV Tuner will cost $49 (€38), is now available for pre-order and will be shipping this month.

In related Boxee news, Boxee v1.5 is in Beta testing for the Boxee Box, but it’s available today for Mac, Windows, and Linux. Boxee for computers has about 85% of features and functionality of the Boxee Box – specifically some premium apps like Netflix, VUDU, and Pandora are not available.

This version will be the last for Boxee on PC/Mac/Ubuntu and will be available until January 31. According to an emailing from Boxee: “We believe the future of TV will be driven by devices such as the Boxee Box, connected TVs / Blu-Rays and 2nd screen devices such as tablets and phones. If you are a current Boxee user on a computer, both the Beta and 1.5 will continue to function and maybe when you are ready to retire that good ol’ computer we hope you will decide to get a Boxee Box.”

White Paper

yes Satellite is Israel’s leading pay TV service provider. Founded in July 2000, yes had since gained 580,000 subscribers, which comprise 38 percent of the Israeli pay TV market. yes is considered to be an innovative provider, introducing new services and technological advancements to its subscribers regularly, ahead of its competition. … [Download this White Paper...]

Speakers’ Corner

Intel’s acquisition of Lantiq is great news for everybody involved in the smart gateway field, for it will galvanise the market and win over anybody who still doubts that such a dedicated device on the premise will be essential for the intelligent connected home of the future. Related

The BBC has a report out called The Future of News. The authors are some of my most talented colleagues, and their work is as comprehensive and well-thought through as it is blunt in its assessment of how far and fast our industry needs to change. Related